Steam Kills Baby Boy In S. Side Flat

A 4-month-old boy was fatally scalded Friday in a steam-filled room in his family`s South Side apartment, where his mother had left him alone with three other children younger than 4, police said.

Police questioned the mother, Dorothy Williams, 20, in the Brighton Park police station Friday night. On the recommendation of the Cook County state`s attorney`s office, police held the mother overnight until an autopsy of the boy is performed Saturday.

The baby, Willie Fleming, was burned on his mouth and legs. He died in St. Bernard Hospital despite more than two hours of lifesaving efforts by paramedics and physicians.

Detective John Boyle of Brighton Park said Williams left her children in their second-floor apartment at 406 W. 56th Pl. while she went across the street to visit a friend.

Shortly after 1 p.m., a first-floor neighbor noticed water dripping into her apartment. She sent one of her children across the street to get Williams, Boyle said.

Other neighbors, who saw steam coming out of a window, called the fire department.

Williams returned with keys to the burglar-bar door and the regular door at the time firefighters arrived.

The firefighters found the baby in the living room, which also served as a bedroom in the small apartment, about 18 feet from a radiator pipe, Boyle said.

The radiator had been removed, and the pipe and the shutoff valve were sticking out of the floor, Boyle said. The shutoff valve had been turned on, filling the room with steam, he said.

The other children--Antone, 3, Frederick, 2, and Wanda, 1--weren`t hurt, Boyle said. He said they were turned over to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.